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After the winter break in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, the knockout stage began with four round of 16 matches - teams playing at home took the first steps towards the quarter-finals, all having won victories and gaining an advantage for the return matches.
Probably the most attention-grabbing match took place in Madrid, where "Real" hosted Turin's "Juventus" team. The home team dominated the match and secured a deserved victory, with defender I. Helguera scoring the winning goal with a header for the royal club.
Also achieving a minimal victory for the first time in the knockout stage matches was Eindhoven's "PSV", who at home defeated last season's finalist "Monaco" thanks to Alex's goal.
The matches were uneven for German and English clubs - "Bayer" fell behind away against "Liverpool" with a three-goal lead, while in Munich "Bayern" crushed "Arsenal" at home with the same result. However, both away teams did not give up, each scoring an important goal and keeping hope alive to overturn the deficit in the return match and remain in the tournament.
Results of Tuesday's matches:
3 - 1 4' [1 - 0] Claudio Pizarro 58' [2 - 0] Claudio Pizarro 65' [3 - 0] Hasan Salihamidzic 88' [3 - 1] Kolo Toure
1 - 0 31' [1 - 0] Ivan Helguera
3 - 1 15' [1 - 0] Luis Garcia 35' [2 - 0] John Arne Riise 90+2' [3 - 0] Dietmar Hamann 90+3' [3 - 1] Franca
1 - 0 8' [1 - 0] Alex"
